A Team? A Family
by HarryPotter'sgirl17
Summary: Tony Stark had finally managed to get all the Avengers into the Tower, managed not to drive them off within the next few days (Take that, Pepper!) and have even managed to play nice whenever bad things came a-calling. Of course, that's when everything went to hell... But, then again, whoever said that life was easy?
1. New Arrival

_**The New Arrival**_

It was a rare, quiet day at the Avenger Tower; Thor was off in New Mexico, visiting Jane and checking in randomly via phone calls, Steve was down in the newly refurbished gym, beating six kinds of holy hell out of the punching bags that were needed to be replaced with much less frequency these days, Clint was making his happy way through the ventilation ducts that crisscrossed Avenger Tower, supposedly checking to see if there were any breaches in their defenses, but Tony was of the mindset that the guy just liked the things way too much to go without wandering around in them for too many days at a time...

Natasha was Gods-knew-where, doing Gods-knew-what, and Bruce was in one of the laboratories that Tony had set up for the brain that was even in a close approximation of his own, so that meant that everyone was doing something and that this really was one of those once-in-a-blue-moon quiet days that they had to themselves...

Then why did he feel like something was about to go horribly wrong?

Well, maybe, because that _was_ when things normally did go wrong; there were a few days that _had_ started out like this one, that seemed like it was going to be peaceful and then there were people screaming, evil bots attacking everything in sight, Doctor Doom being a megalomaniac asshole, the only time it was quiet and peaceful again was when the fight was over as everyone collapsed into bed or the nearest horizontal surface.

He had found Thor passed out on the common kitchen's table one time, even went as far as using the Thunder God's chest to balance his tablet on before the big guy woke up, demanding 'sustenance after a mighty battle with his fellow warriors' in a booming voice that nearly took out Tony's hearing for half an hour...

So, when he asked J.A.R.V.I.S to run a scan of the whole house, hack into S.H.I.E.L.D computers to find out where the hell they sent Black Widow and make sure that Clint knew about the new security on the sixth floor before he tripped it and Tony had to deal with a wounded bird on top of everything else, Tony wasn't being _paranoid_.

He was being _cautious_.

J.A.R.V.I.S reported back that Bruce, Steve, and Clint were where they should be and that there was nothing abnormal about their behavior-that definitely had been one of his top 'let's-not-do-that-again' days-Clint had found his newest addition before the A.I had even mentioned it, _and_ had found a way around it, before finally reporting that Black Widow was scheduled to be returning to the Tower within the next few days, sooner if air traffic allowed, which-with a few clicks and voice commands-it would.

Releasing a breath he hadn't even realized that he had been holding, Tony relaxed as he finally accepted that this might be one of the quiet days that where few and far between, that he could actually _relax_ for once...

...Which, of course, was when the Tower rumbled as something hit it with extreme force.

Tony sighed, the tension returned to his shoulders as he admitted to jinxing himself, all the while having J.A.R.V.I.S access the damage done to the Tower.

"There seems to be slight structural damage done to the Iron Man landing pad, sir. Otherwise, the Tower is almost completely intact."

"Define 'almost', J.A.R.V.I.S."

"The normal cracking and shifting of foundations that come from whenever the Tower has been damaged, sir."

"Great, remind me to call a construction crew in the morning."

"Very good, sir." If Tony didn't know any better, he was say that the A.I sounded just as disappointed as he felt at having their calm evening interrupted; yet, before Tony could throw out a joke about having a download by the fire cut short, J.A.R.V.I.S was showing him readouts from the hit... and _there_ was something that he didn't see every day...

"The attack came from a strange radiation burst that has disappeared as quickly as it appeared and there have been no other attacks reported or seen in any other parts of the city, sir. The landing pad is covered in what seems to be an organic fluid and there appears to be life readings emitting from the middle of the pad." J.A.R.V.I.S paused as he ran another scan, Tony only half aware that Steve had made his way up from the gym in the meantime, watching the displays on Tony's tablet before demanding answers. "The life readings appears to be human in genetics, with some slight alterations that I am having trouble pinpointing the exact nature of."

"Aw, come on, J.A.R.V.I.S! Don't tell me you're getting old on me now..."

"Not at all, sir," The A.I's voice has definitely gone frosty, which makes Tony grin and Steve roll his eyes despite the seriousness of the situation, "It is just that the organic fluid is interspersed mechanical properties that are making it difficult to get a proper reading on the life form within, sir."

"Which would explain why Banner's out on the landing pad right now."

Clint's voice causes both Steve and Tony to start, Tony to threaten to put a little bell on the archer that makes him grin at the billionaire, before the meaning of his words finally sink in.

"Bruce is _where_?!"

-0-0-0-

Bruce was currently examining a slightly viscous, light yellow substance that seemed to be acting like some sort of engineered birthing liquid for the unconscious form that it was still mostly covering, but steadily sliding off of... an unconscious, _naked_ form that was starting to shiver as more of the liquid evaporated and slid away.

He had left the laboratory as soon as the Tower had trembled, worried that another attack had happened, knowing that by the way the Tower had rocked that it wasn't because one of Tony's experiments had exploded this time; genius he may be, not everything Tony made was perfect right off the bat, despite what he would tell people...

Telling J.A.R.V.I.S to inform him about what was going on, Bruce had been on his way to the common area, where he knew that everyone that was still in the Tower would met up to discuss what their mode of attack would be-which Tony mostly ignored anyway-before heading out, when the A.I informed him that the 'attack' was really just the one strike and that there was an unidentified substance on the Iron Man landing pad that may or may not hold a new life form.

It was _definitely_ a life form; it appeared human, female, between eighteen and twenty years of age, pale, with dark hair-but that could be because the substance was still clinging to it and making it darker than would be normally-and the shivers that had started when the air had hit her bare skin when was 'born', for lack of a better term, had turned into tremors that shook her from her unconscious state into full wakefulness so fast that Bruce jerked back when she started upright.

Her eyes, a bright blue that rivaled Rogers', grew wide as she took in the skyscrapers and buildings surrounding her, and they grew even wider when she realized that she wasn't alone on top of Avengers Tower... As a matter of fact, if Bruce was being honest, the sound she made when her gaze focused on him would've been the closest he ever heard someone _squeak_.

Finding it ironic that she was frightened of him _before_ she even saw the Other Guy, Bruce kept his hands up and his voice low. "Do you know where you are? Or how you got here?"

His answer was a shake of her head.

"Can you speak?"

Her mouth formed the words 'I don't know', but no sounds came out, nor for anything else she tries to say. Bruce is considering trying a different language before the girl frowns and shakes her head, clearly frustrated by the lack of communication on her part.

"Do you know who you are?"

A moment of thought, then another shake of the head, more frantic this time.

"It's okay, memory loss is normal in this type of situation, it's okay..." Bruce was lying through his teeth; he had no idea what was normal for this type of thing, but the girl's eyes were starting to grow teary and if there was one thing he had absolutely no clue with, it was a crying mute, amnesic female. He was good with crying females, knew that sometimes they just needed to let out some steam the same way a guy might go after a fight, but he was lost as to what he would do with a girl that had no idea who she was.

"Making new friends, Banner?"

Bruce did not jump at the sudden question, but his shoulder did give a reactive twitch and the poor girl let out another squeak and scrabbled back a few paces, her trembling kicking up a few more notches; enough for Bruce to be worried that she might rattle her teeth out of her head, but when he turned around to reprimand Clint for scaring her, he saw why she was trying to put as much distance between them as she could... not that it would do her any good...

Clint was dressed in full 'Hawkeye' regalia, a bow drawn and ready at his side, seemingly casual, but Bruce knew that he could go to deadly in a second flat. The girl had obviously realized this as well, if the fact that she was at the very edge of the roof, looking between the drop and the two of them as if deciding which one would be the lesser of two evils was anything to go by... Bruce knew what that feeling was like and he hated it with every fiber of his being, so his reprimand came out a little sharper than he was going to use.

"Do you think you can stop scaring her for five seconds? She was with me for a while before you showed up and had plenty of time to attack and she didn't," That part might be debatable, considering that Bruce has no idea when exactly Clint showed up, but he is sure of one thing; she _did_ have time to cause him harm, so his next words are spoken with utter confidence, "She's no threat, to me or to the team."

"J.A.R.V.I.S says that there is a genetic code in her that he can't seemed to get a lock on, despite the fact that Tony has run at least three different scans by now, so for all we know she might have her very own Other Guy just waiting to come out and play," Clint gives the girl a once over that has her attempting to cover herself for the first time since waking, "Or should I say 'Other _Girl_'?"

"I doubt scaring her death is going to endear her to us if she does have a Hulk of her own, Hawkeye," Great, now Steve has decided to join the party; Bruce would be willing to bet the girl would've jumped by now if it had been anybody but Captain America, because the moment his eyes land on the girl, he blushes like a teenager and sets down a bundle of clothing before backing up a few steps. "I figured you were getting cold out here. These should fit."

The man manages to look like a kid with a present he hopes his parents will like and is half expecting to hear them say it sucks, so how in the world can anybody be afraid of that? Not at all surprised, Bruce watches as the girl smiles at Captain Puppy Face and moves away from the edge of the building to pick up the clothing, twisting them in her hands for a few minutes before looking pointedly at the three of them before it finally hits them what exactly it is that she's asking.

Steve, of course, blushes all the way to the roots of his hair and spins on his heel, Bruce turns without comment, but Clint merely raises his brow at her, making the girl huff and turn _her_ back on _him_ as she starts to dress, ignoring Clint's comment of "Nice ass." with a skill that Natasha would normally employ. As it is, Clint gets an elbow in side from Steve for his remark and he tries to hide how much that actually hurt, but the girl smirks at him anyway when she turns back around.

"Well, now that we've taken care of that," Steve states, his blush back under control and his eyes fixed on the girl's face in a friendly-but-slightly-intimidating stare, "We need to figure out just _where_ it is that you came from and _what_ it is that you want. Is there any reason why you've decided to... _land_ here, for lack of a better term? Is this some sort of attack? A ploy for us to lower our defenses? Female or not, we will show _no_ leniency toward you if your intentions are hostile."

The girl nods her understanding, before spreading her hands in the universal signal for 'look, see, no weapons; completely harmless here, don't kill me' and mouths the words 'I don't know, I'm sorry.' as Bruce informs the other two of his attempt to find out who/what this girl really is. The way she looks, terrified and honestly lost, with her eyes darting among the three of them as if they might suddenly pop up with all the answers has Steve believing them right out of the gate, but Clint is still suspicious and makes his doubts very clearly known.

"I don't like it; it's too convenient," Steve shoots Clint a look that is part admonishment and part plain disapproval, but the archer doesn't bat an eye as he continues, "She just _happens _to land on the Tower and has no clue as to how or why? Oh, and she also seems to have oh-so-_coincidentally_ forgotten who she is as well!"

The girl's eyes narrow in a way that suddenly reminds Bruce of Tony when he's about to do something very, _very_ stupid; so it's with no small amount of panic-as well as willpower to keep the Other Guy in check-that Bruce watches as the girl marches right up to Clint, who draws his bow and aims it at her approaching figure, and stands not five inches away from him... close enough for her to lean forward and place her neck against the arrowhead of his weapon, her eyes holding his in a gaze that would have done any solider proud.

They hold like that for an indeterminable amount of time, seeming to communicate in the way that Bruce only thought Clint and Natasha were capable of, before Clint finally lowers his bow and _slightly_ loosens his stance to a parade rest. The girl, however, still stays perfectly immobile and now that the arrow had been removed, Bruce could see that it had been pressed hard enough to leave a drop of blood behind... Once more, he was struck by the thought that she seemed to have Tony's inclination toward making a statement.

"I'm still on the fence with you, kid," Clint was saying, drawing Bruce back to the here and now, as Steve moved forward to look at the blood on the girl's neck, because Steve was a self-sacrificing boy scout that was nearly impossible to be mad at because he was just so _earnest_, "and I reserve the right to put an arrow through your eye if you decide to screw us over."

"Well, now that we're all done playing 'impress-the-assassin' and 'is-she-for-real?'," Nobody jumps this time, either too tired, too tightly wrung, or just too used to all the strangeness that has happened in the last couple of hours that Tony's voice booming over the loudspeakers does nothing more than make them sigh, groan or smirk, "Why don't we escort the little alien princess into the Tower so she may meet the King of this domain?"

"And if she turns out to be an enemy?"

"Aw, Clint, you say that like it's something _new_! You're so precious, I _knew_ there was a reason I kept you around!"

As Clint swore obscenities at Tony under his breath, Bruce guides the strange girl into the Tower, trying not to worry about the fact that she looks like jumping off of the skyscraper might have been the better choice...

-0-0-0-

**A/N: **_**Frell!**_

**I don't need any **_**more**_** fandoms to be a part of! Do you know how many stories I **_**have**_** on this site?! Damn plot bunnies and their inability to leave me **_**alone**_**!**

**Tell me what you think as I go and try to convince the PTB that I should be working on one of the stories that I **_**already have**_** instead of giving me **_**another**___**one to stress over...**


	2. Who Are You?

_**Who Are You?**_

While Bruce, Clint, and Steve had been getting acquainted with the Girl From The Sky, Tony ___had _been running every scan that he could on the newcomer and had come up with nothing but a strange organic reading that J.A.R.V.I.S could not compute, which would have worried most people, but it was a generally well known fact that Tony Stark was not 'most people'.

As a matter of fact, he took great pleasure in informing people of that little quirk.

Right now, though, the fact that his databases were throwing up ******Unknown Entity **signs whether he was trying to find out what it was that was coursing through this kid's bloodstream or trying to find out where she came from, Tony was getting slightly frustrated and decided that he was just going to have to bring her into one of the labs to get the answers he wanted.

"While I applaud your sudden hospitality, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S intoned after Tony had invited everyone back inside, slightly disappointed that his sudden announcement hadn't been met with more of a reaction, "It is entirely possible that Mr. Barton's assessment of the female might be accurate. It would perhaps be more prudent for us to inform-"

"If you were going to finish that sentence with 'inform S.H.I.E.L.D. of our visitor', then ___you're _going to be the one that ends up in a community college, J.A.R.V.I.S. I'd hate to see something I spent so much time and effort on being used to teach baby faced idiots the joys of long division..." Pausing on his way out of the lab, Tony snatched up a tablet and the Mark IV bracelets, slipping them on as he made his way to the common area that Steve was no doubt leading everyone else to.

"The situation is perfectly under control; it's one girl against Captain America, an assassin whose already gunning to put an arrow in her butt, a rage monster that needs only the slightest provocation, and we already know that I'm immune to mind control, so let's see what she has to say for herself before we throw her off the Tower."

There might have been a mechanical sigh at that, but the sound was too low for Tony to really hear before J.A.R.V.I.S. responded with a perfunctory, "Very good, sir."

Making his way to the kitchen, Tony saw that the New Girl was sitting at the head of the table that normally was used for breakfast instead of interrogations; Steve and Bruce were sitting to the front and either side of her, with Clint sitting at the far end, a throwing knife spinning idly in his hands. He and the New Girl seemed to be involved in the most epic attempt at staring the other down that Tony had ever seen, the tension in the room dulled a bit by the other pair looking between them like they were spectators in a tennis match.

"Well, at least no one will ever claim that the welcome here is ___ordinary_." Tony drawled, watching with glee as Steve and Bruce's gazes snapped to him as soon as they realized he was in the room, while the only reaction that the staring contestants gave was a twitch of their shoulders. "I hope you don't go around telling people we threaten guests with knifes, considering the fact that the only damage she's done so far has been to ___my _Tower that is-in all honestly-a sneeze compared to the last time the Big Guy got pissed at me."

Bruce ducked his head at that admission, which led to Steve glared at Tony, both of whom the engineer ignored as he willed either Clint or the New Girl to break and look at him, for one of them to concede before they suddenly developed heat vision and fried each other's brains into piles of jelly, leaving him to explain to Natasha how Clint went from being to birdbrained to brain damaged...

Finally, after what seemed like an indeterminable amount of time, the New Girl turned from the table and moved to stand in front of Tony. Her movements were slow and completely choreographed so that they could see exactly what she was doing as she was doing it, and she just stood there for a few minutes before bending at her waist to give Tony a rather extravagant curtsy that nearly had her face planting into his chest.

Surprisingly enough, it was ___Clint _who broke the insuring silence by ___laughing_.

"You told her that she was 'going to meet the King', Tony," Clint snorted at the looks the others were giving him, waving the knife at the Girl's still bent form, "So, I guess that this is her 'greeting' to the so-called 'ruler'... That's just great, like you need your ego stroked any more."

The girl lifted up from her bow/curtsy and gave Tony a questioning look that included a tilt of her head, prompting Tony to hold up the tablet that he had brought with him. "Since you apparently can understand English, and tried to respond in kind, so let's see if you can write down whatever it is you want to say. That way we don't have to guess at what it is you want to tell us..."

Eager hands grabbed at the tablet, fingers drawing at the face of the device as her gaze darted between it and Tony, lips spread in a wide grin that automatically made Tony smile back in response. As soon as she finds what she's looking for, she twirls her pointer finger on the screen a few times before nodding happily.

As soon as that is done, she lifts up the tablet and swings it around the entire kitchen so that everyone could see what was written on it:

******Hello, everyone.**

"Nice. Much better than Steve on his first time," Tony beamed at the red that flared on Steve's face, tilting the tablet so that he could show the New Girl how to erase the words before he asked, "Now, we know that you don't know where you are, how you got here, or even who ___you _are... Do you remember ___anything _about what was going on before you got here...? Anything at all?"

There was a few minutes of thought as the Girl's gaze fixated on something none of them could see, eerily reminding Tony of the times that Steve got lost in his memories of 'Before', and then her hands were gripping the tablet in a grasp that caused the device to emit a noise that sounded like something between a screech and a hiss, making the screen blanket out into a white fog as she started to shake much worse than she had before.

"Tony?" Steve's voice held some of the worry that must have shown on Tony's face, but his gaze is fixated on the girl in front of him, the girl whose eyes have rolled up into her head and she slumped forward almost too fast for Tony to catch her. "What the hell!?"

Cap cursing-for Steve had definitely changed into his Avengers persona, despite the fact that he wasn't even wearing his suit-was a clear sign of how worried he was, and the fact that the rest of the crew had rushed to the Girl's side, was also a sign that their concern about the Girl being a threat had disappeared under their concern for her well being. Her trembling had caused her to spasm in Tony's arms so badly that he needed the combined efforts of both Bruce and Clint to hold her in place, and even then it was a battle to keep her steady.

"I'm calling S.H.I.E.L.D!" Tony was barely aware of Steve's panicked yelling, his attention was drawn to the body that went suddenly and completely still underneath his hands to slide limply against the floor, almost as if she was a puppet that had her strings viciously cut...

-0-0-0-

**__****It was cold where she was, cold and dark, every single sense in her body screaming out that this was wrong, wrong ****__****WRONG****__****!**

**__****She needed to get back to where she was before, with the men that were trying to help her, trying to figure out where she came from... Why was she here now? What had happened to the man that had given her a way to communicate...?**

**__****Why was it so damn ****__****cold**?!

**__****All of a sudden, the lights were suddenly on and she had to shield her eyes from the glare, her arm moving a few seconds behind her brain telling it to... Looking at the appendage, she sees why; her arm has tubes and wiring attached to it, barely a free space of skin left, and every single one is hooked up to a machine that is beeping and pinging like she's just won the lottery**.

**__****"Seems like our little experiment is up," The voice that speaks is colder than the chill that has yet to release her from its grip and she is struck by the thought that she has to get away from here, from wherever this place may be and back to the men that were helping her, even if one of them didn't trust her...**

**__****She tries to move, but finds that she can not, that she is completely unable to do so. Looking at her arm, she tries again; mentally she screams at it to move, but it stays still despite the fact that it is unfettered. It lays there as the fear builds in her chest, as the fact that she has no control over her own body consumes her until she feels she could drown in it**.

___**"Now, I do believe it is time for us to begin. You're going to be wonderful..." The Voice grows closer and closer, the rustle of clothing telling her that someone is approaching and she wills any part of her body at all to move, to strike out, but all that happens is her head turns toward the man-the voice is too deep to be any way close to female-that has finally made his way into her sight**_.

**__****"Aren't you, Sarah?"**

The scream that rips from her throat echoes around the helicarrier as the New Girl, as ___Sarah_, finally wakens from the memory that had held her hostage. It dissolves into sobbing as she realizes that she has just moved from one laboratory to another and it ends in anger as soon as she sees a lab assistant heading toward her...

What follows after that is one of the most bloody confrontations since the Loki Incident.


	3. Names and Nuisances

_**Names and Nuisances**_

"...so she just landed on your Tower like a human meteor, claimed to have no prior memory to being there, and you decided to let her wander into the very place that _**the most powerful people on this planet happen to call home**_?!"

It's rather impressive the amount of veins that Tony can see throbbing in Director Nick Fury's forehead, and while he can appreciate a good headache like very few people can, he wisely decides that discretion is the better part of valor and keeps his mouth shut while Fury rants at the rest of the of the team for 'letting Stark being a suicidal idiot' as well as 'endangering all of their lives just because he was bored' until Steve surprises them by speaking up.

"Sir, with all due respect, the Tower that we are residing in _is_ technically still Mr. Stark's and it _is_ **his** decision on what happens there, as he pointed out when the girl showed up... er, landed..." Steve gives Tony a smile that is more an upward quirk of his lips than anything else, but Tony is still in shock that _Steve is standing up for him_ to make any gesture in kind, so Steve turns back to Fury before Tony can get his brain back in order. "Anyway, the girl was more interested in finding out a way to communicate than to hurt us and-again, with all due respect, sir-if we offer violence to every newcomer that shows up, Earth is going to have a lot more enemies than when we started..."

Now it isn't only Tony that is staring at Steve in amazement and he has to hold back a rather childish giggle as the super solider realizes that he is the center of attention, blushing a deep red that makes Tony wonder if it gives off heat, making a mental note to ask Bruce if he felt anything since he was sitting next to Steve this time... As it is, Fury is looking at the lot of them like they're a bunch of unruly preschoolers and he's the unfortunate one that got stuck babysitting.

Considering the fact that he has to practically break his neck to include Clint in that glare since the brunet is currently settled in the highest point in the conference room because he can't sit at the table like a _normal person_, Tony bites back the first few retorts he wants to make and instead goes with something a bit less antagonistic, "Barton _did _threaten to shoot her in the eye if she tries anything, so can we _please_ keep her? _Pretty please_, with sugar on top?"

Fury is just opening his mouth-no doubt to yell at Tony some more-and Tony is almost certain that he hears Clint mutter 'She's not a damn puppy, Stark.', but both concerns are thrown out of his head when an inhuman screech echoes throughout the helicarrier. Not more than a second later, a klaxon sounds and the entire conference room is full of flashing red lights, making everyone start demanding to know what's happening until a voice over the comm system shuts them all up.

"Director Fury!" There's the sound of hits being landed and people shouting as the speakers crackle with the Agent's panicked voice, a note of hysteria creeping in by the second. "The subject has escaped the laboratory and is making her way toward the upper levels of S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters! She is displaying elevated levels of aggression, has downed several Agents, and is running unchecked throughout the helicarrier! Requesting permission to use deadly force with all due haste!"

"Dolly's awake," Tony quipped, right as Fury whirled around to respond to the frantic message, earning him a glare from everyone in the room. Dropping his head in a mock surrender that fools no one, Tony ran his hands across the tablet he always carried, easily getting J.A.R.V.I.S. to track where the girl was going and the quickest way to get there without Fury's goons shadowing his steps...

What he sees is surprising, given how terrified the Agent sounded; the girl isn't going by any well known route, but is actually going along places that would keep her from running into anyone else, the random grunt wandering the corridors non withstanding in this assessment.

But how could she possibly know that...? Has she been in an army base like this before...? The more that Tony learns about this girl, the more the need to get her out from under S.H.I.E.L.D's thumb and back to the Tower grows; it's partially the thought of getting something that Fury doesn't have, always a joy, partially because this girl landed there and something tells him that there was a reason for that... he just doesn't know what that reason is just yet...

"-didn't think to talk to her, you just thought it was a good idea to stick her on a table like some laboratory _rat_!" Tony tunes back into the conversation going on around him to realize that Clint is gone, Bruce looks like he about three seconds away from turning Big and Green, while Rogers is trying to play peacekeeper as usual. He's not doing a very good job of it, what with the way that he's glaring at Fury himself, and the hand he has on Bruce's shoulder looks more like it's there to push the other man out of the way so that the Star Spangled Man With A Plan can get a piece of the Director first than to hold the physicist back.

"Okay, maybe this proves Pepper's point that I should pay more attention when I'm in meetings, although none of you can tell her I said that..." Tony's remark causes the argument to be cut off and all three men to turn in his direction, various expressions of annoyance and thanks-Steve somehow managing to pull both-aimed his way. Grinning slightly, Tony holds up his tablet and asks, "How about, instead of yelling at each other, we track down the girly whose making your Agents look like rent-a-cops and see what made her turn into Snappy Stabs-A-Lot?"

Fury is already making his way out of the conference room and down the hallway before Tony is even finished speaking, shouting his orders over his shoulder as he goes. "Stark, since you apparently have no qualms hacking into _government files_, you can upload our little visitor's trajectory to all S.H.I.E.L.D personnel while Banner does some deep breathing exercises. Captain, suit up and get ready to lead our 'negotiations' as soon as Stark is done."

Tony gives Fury's retreating back a mock salute and plays the electronic in his hand like a master musician while Bruce decides that being zen might be in his better interest, Steve standing there for a few seconds, looking like he wants to say something or do something before he goes... Tony raises a brow, waiting for Steve to make up his mind, but the blond just sighs and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

Grinning at the fact that he is now alone with the other half of what Jane's little assistant-what's that girl's name again...?-called 'The Science Bros', Tony waves around the now empty room with a negligent hand. "Something about a girl being strapped down on a table rub you the wrong way, Doc?"

Bruce's face grows a little less pinched as Tony easily finishes the last of his directions and begins the up-link, heaving a sigh at the time delay and progression skips the outdated system is making his information go through, deciding to focus instead on Banner's answer to his question. "Call me crazy, Stark, but somehow I don't think _anyone_ would be in a very cooperative mood if they woke up in an unknown laboratory and found out that they were that day's experiment... not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything like that..."

"Well, the last-and really, _only_-time I had been in a laboratory when I'm not adding all my beautiful little gadgets to my suit, which I need to rebuff when I get home, now that I'm thinking about it..." Tony shrugs and turns to Bruce as his grin grows more pronounced, "As I was saying, the last time I was in a laboratory really couldn't count because I was really more in a cave in Afghanistan and I was a prisoner under duress to make weapons of mass destruction, so I can quite honestly-and with absolutely _no_ bias-say that the experience wasn't on my top ten favorite moments."

Bruce is full out _laughing_ by the time Steve shows back up in his red, white and blue glory suit, which causes him to look at Tony in confusion and a little bit like he would like to be let in on the joke. Considering the last time he had tried to get Bruce to come out of his more-compact-than-a-frightened-porcupine-shell, Steve had been less than happy with him, Tony counts this as a victory and hopes that it will help convince Steve to go along with the next part of his plan, which will definitely go a lot more smoothly with the Capsicle on his side...

"Alright, battle stations, everybody! I've decided to be helpful today and do what the Director has oh-so-kindly _requested_ of me," Bruce snorts and Steve rolls his eyes, making Tony give them both a mock 'you-wound-me-sirs' look that just has Steve rolling his eyes again. Geez, the guy did that any more and they'd roll right out of his head... "Anyway! Bruce, Cap, you guys are coming with me to the bridge while Fury and his crew fill out the lower levels chasing their tails, something that I'm sure that they're more than familiar with..."

As he's speaking, Tony jumps up from the table and out the door, willing the others to to join him as he puts his plan into action. His breath exhales in a soft rush when he hears a slight rustling behind him, knowing that at least _one_ of them is coming and hoping the other follows...

"I thought you said you were going to _help_ them? Unless that has changed as well since I was frozen, I'm pretty sure that's the _opposite_ of help, Tony..." There is more than a hint of reproach in Steve's tone, but the super solider is still following him without reporting what he just learned to the Director, so Tony's going to count that as another win for him today, coming close behind the fact that Bruce is padding along with them at a slow, cautious pace.

"I _am_ helping them, Capsicle," Steve's forehead pinches at the nickname as they make their way through one of the helicarrier's many, many, _many_ hallways, Tony not even looking up as he watches the readouts on his tablet. It's only when Bruce nudges him so he doesn't run headfirst into a wall that he looks up again, grin firmly in place as he justifies the misinformation.

"I'm _helping_ them by making sure that Fury's 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' crew doesn't turn a bad situation worse by trying to take down this girl before we figure out why she went ax-crazy, not that I really blame her, considering where she woke up... I'm pretty sure that a bullet in the brain will severely put a damper on trying to figure that out, don't you?"

It seems Steve agrees with his assessment, because Tony is more than slightly shocked when Captain America dons his cowl, nods shortly at the billionaire and states solemnly, "Lead the way."

Tony's stillness at Steve's acceptance of one of his ideas is plain for everyone to see, a clear indication of how far the pair of them have come since their first tumultuous meeting, and it's only when Steve turns red again as Bruce snickers that Tony snaps out of his immobile state to spin on his heel and continue down the way he was going, nearly colliding into the door that Bruce saved him from...

"So, want to tell us why you're so interested in this girl, Stark?" Bruce voice is as soft as his steps, almost a wisp as he watches the men that race past them with the same kind of look a hunted animal would give its pursuers, ready to bolt at the slightest indication that he's the one they're running after. "You've had an eye on her ever since she passed out in the Tower, barely letting the S.H.I.E.L.D Agents take her to the labs in the first place... Want to share with the group?"

Tony pauses as Steve looks up and down the corridor, military training kicking in even though they're trying to be discrete, but the momentary wait gives him time to think of the reason that he had taken a liking to the Mystery Girl that landed on his Tower, a way to explain it to Bruce and Steve without sounding like some sort of creep... Thankfully, the answer is taken out of his hands when Steve's own voice cuts softly across their conversation, a polite cough preluding his words.

"She seems like she needs the protection, doesn't she? I mean, she _did_ land on the Tower, out of every building that she could have chosen... if she even _had_ a choice..." Steve's face twists as he clearly thinks about all the implications that sentence brings up, his expression darkening along with his thoughts. "We need to find out where she came from and why she's here in the first place, everything else can wait until after we figure that out... _including_ where she stays."

"Agreed," Bruce affirms, grinning when Tony's mouth clicks shut as he gives the both of them a glare, the tablet in his hands beeping as they get ever closer to the object of their conversation. It's refreshing to see the man loosen up a bit, despite the seriousness of the situation, despite the fact that this could turn deadly at any moment...

So, because Tony courts trouble like a professional, he has to open his mouth and spoil the good mood by asking, "What are we going to if this girl turns out to be another Loki?"

A tightness comes to Steve's shoulders as his walk turns even more militarily sharp and Bruce looses some of his loose limb grace as well, both men obviously thinking of a certain Agent that stood up to a god, stood up to something he knew he had absolutely _no_ chance in hell against, just so he could help a group of people that where determined to stay apart even as he tried to keep them all together... An Agent whose greatest wish was just to get a collection of cards he kept signed by his hero...

"We'll deal with that when we get to it," Steve's tone makes Tony shiver slightly, not expecting that kind of venom to come from this particular Good Ol' Boy, something that Bruce seems to feel as well, if the somewhat worried glance that he shares with Tony is any indication.

Tony doesn't ague, though, and just double checks the information that is scrolling across his tablet as Steve and Bruce flank his steps. After no more than another ten or so meters, he stops and takes a deep breath as he finds himself hoping that this girl doesn't turn into another psychotic nut job that that wants to take over the world... They've really have enough of those, even for a super powered team of billionaires and demigods, and they really don't need another...

Raising his right hand to point at the door in front of them, Tony watches as the pair with him tense ever so slightly as their gazes sharpen and focus, each man drawing on his own knowledge of what was expected of him and how they were going to deal with whatever lay beyond that door... Tony's other hand twists so he can hook a finger through the bracelet in his pocket, reassured by the feel of the metal and the fact that the suit isn't too far way as he breaks the tense silence with a single sentence:

"Through there, gentlemen."

* * *

The main bridge of the helicarrier was mostly empty, save for the few people needed to make sure the thing stayed in the air and not crash in a very pricey explosion, which really was a blessing considering the fact that most of them were on the higher levels when No-Longer-In-A-Coma Girl bursts through the doors like a miniature hurricane, stopping only when she realizes that she is in the control room and that she has no idea on how to fly the helicarrier.

The first thing that anyone would notice about her is her eyes, pupils nearly blown as her head swivels around the room looking for an escape route, disheveled hair whipping around her face with the movement; the second thing would be the fact that, although they changed her into a hospital gown, they had yet to bathe the liquid she had arrived in off of her, so there was congealed yellow goo sticking to her skin in an odd parody of war paint that only served to highlight the skittishness of the girl in front of them.

All of this Bruce takes in a second, before he's gently pushing past Tony and stating, "You have a needle in your arm."

Her gaze snaps to him as he hears someone muttering about 'ruining the element of surprise' behind him, but Bruce is more focused on the girl in front of him; the girl who smells rank with fear, whose making the Other Guy shift and flex under his skin with the need to _smash_ the fear, make the fear go _away_... The wildness in the girl's eyes says she's not really there, not really seeing anything in front of her, so Bruce knows that whatever he does next will either help them, or will makes things _really_ messy _really_ quickly.

"You have a needle in your arm," Bruce reiterates, this time pointing out which arm he sees the I.V. tube dangling from, which makes the girl's eyes dart down to it and then back up to him, to the rest of the room, much like a caged animal that can't trust anything it sees... The physicist takes a deep breath as the Other Guy makes his presence even more known, before slowly reaching out his hand to the frightened form in front of him. "Here, let me help you take that out."

He's aware of Tony and Captain America shifting at his back, ready to help at a moment's notice if the girl tries anything, but also willing to wait to see how his gambit plays out; he's also aware of the fact that Fury must have realized that Tony led him on a wild goose chase, if the sudden tramping of army feet is anything to go by... The girl has also noticed, the sudden tensing of her shoulders the only inclination as she keeps her eyes on him, and Bruce can feel the Other Guy reacting to the sudden wave of new fear that comes off of her.

"I am going to have words with you later, Stark."

"Looking forward to it, Director." Tony's voice sounds _far_ too cheerful for the tone Fury directed at him, which is probably why his next words are a sharp bark that makes the girl flinch.

"Banner! Step away from the hostile and remove yourself from danger! We have this under control."

"Uh, no; see, if you had this under control, then one of your little wrench monkeys would have informed you that after this girl's initial kerfuffle with your so-called 'Agents', she immediately went into stealth mode and tried her damnedest to avoid the bastards; _they_ were the ones that sought _her_ out, _**Directo**__**r**_," The screens around them flicker as Tony shows off his findings on them, but Bruce's attention is on the girl that has taken a few small steps toward him and the hand he still has out, gaze still darting around at the armed men above her.

"Any particular reason why _you_ didn't share this information, Stark?"

"Considering the fact that you have over a hundred men pointing guns at _both_ the Hulk and a girl of unknown origins, I would say my reasons are pretty damn clear."

The girl is almost to Bruce now, her fear slowly dissolving into caution; it's still there, of course-having a bunch of guns aimed your way tends to have that affect-but by the time she makes it to him, the Other Guy is considerably calmed and the chances of things getting messy are now much lower.

Captain America has now noticed that the girl is steadily moving toward Bruce, for there is a sudden presence at his back that has the girl pausing in her steps for few seconds as the two stare each other down, a sudden waft of wariness overtaking her scent. Never has it been more apparent than now that there is a difference between Steve Rogers, the man that gave this girl clothing and blushed at her nude state not more than a few hours ago, and Captain America, who was now ready to take her down at the first sign of trouble and probably would only feel uncomfortable at the fact that he had hit a woman...

It seems like the pair have some sort of nonverbal agreement, because the girl takes the last few steps to Bruce and places her arm in his hand; for a few seconds, Bruce studies the contrast in their skin tone, the scientist in him cataloging all the differences he can ascertain from that small contact: Despite not being a biologist, even Bruce can tell that this girl has rarely-if ever-seen the sun by the paleness of her skin, and that hypothesis is reinforced by the baby soft texture of that skin, which is only marred by the scars of old needle wounds-

_Shit._

The arm in his grip flexes, bringing Bruce back to the present and helping him keep a lid on his roiling emotions, which had immediately gone sour when he realized that her reaction upon waking in S.H.I.E.L.D's lab was undoubtedly justified; you don't get scars like that from self infliction, nor do one or two look like it was a fight to get the needle in, and Bruce uses even more care extracting this one, watching with a mixture of sadness and anger as the girl puts pressure on the puncture and bends her arm to stem blood flow without even having to be told...

"Thank you." The words startle both Bruce and Captain America, which in turn makes the girl immediately clam up again, something that they need to rectify now that they've realized that she can talk... So Bruce gives her a reassuring smile and he hears a rustle behind him and then the girl is smiling back, so he's pretty sure that Steve has removed his cowl and has presented her with another familiar face, so that must have helped the last of the fear clinging to her fade away.

"Do you remember who you are now?" It's not the first question he wants to ask her, but it's the only one that won't lead to the Other Guy making an appearance, and Bruce wants to hold off on that meeting for as long as he possibly can. Knowing who this girl is would also solve a lot of their problems and no doubt halt the argument still going on over their heads...

"It is not your place to decide what S.H.I.E.L.D does in regards to new entities-"

"Because S.H.I.E.L.D has _such a great_ track record when dealing with visitors-"

"Track records- You really want to argue with me about _track records_, Stark? _Yours _would _definitely_ shed some fucking light on why leaving things up to you would be a _stupid ass idea_-!"

"I'm sorry, _who_ was it that thought that the first thing they should do with a spanking new alien technology was turn it into weapons of mass destruction? Even _I_ learned that wasn't a good idea, _Director_-"

"They're really not this bad," Steve's face is a study in put-upon suffering as he looks from the Director to Tony and back again before he turns to the girl with a smile that's just short of convincing, brow furrowed as the shouting behind him raises another octave or three, "I mean, they _do_ argue a bit, but not this bad... Well, _most_ of the time it's not this bad..."

"My name is Sarah, sir," The girl cuts off Steve's blundering reassurance with that simple phrase and turns to look at the platoon of men that still have their guns trained on her, even though their boss is in the middle of a screaming match with Tony Stark, her body moving only the barest amount as she returns her gaze to Bruce in an obvious attempt not to appear threatening. "I don't remember anything else; where I came from, how I got here, not even my last name. I'm sorry if I hurt anyone when I woke up, but I was scared and I guess I don't react well to fear-"

"You may not believe this, but trust me when I say, Miss Sarah, that I know exactly what you're talking about."

Bruce's little quip causes Sarah's hesitant smile to grow into an actual grin, causing Bruce to mentally cheer at the fact that she's not giving off fear like an expensive perfume, making the Other Guy finally settle down to a dull presence at the back of his skull. That thought has just left his mind when a slight whiff of panic hit his nostrils, coinciding with her grin slipping down into a slight frown. "I _really_ didn't mean to hurt anyone, I just panicked when I woke up. I really don't want to- I just- Are they going to stick me in a lab again?"

The last part is said in such a dejected, defeated tone that Bruce wants to inform her that the only way she's ever going back into a lab again-or even getting anywhere near an examination table-is if she decides to do so of her own free will, but is unable to because Tony and the Director's fight has reached it's most volatile yet, going past minor disputes to personal attacks, and Bruce's eyes widen when he hears the next words that come out of Fury's mouth:

"Howard Stark-"

Whatever Tony's father was, is, or may have been is cut of by Captain America's shield slamming into the railing in front of Fury, halting his words and making the gunmen surrounding him uneasily shift their sights from Sarah to Steve. The man in question is looking at Fury and Tony with such an expression of disappointment and disapproval in his eyes that Tony immediately snaps his lips close on whatever smart ass remark he was going to make, proving that he was, in fact, the genius he claimed to be.

"_That_," Steve's voice is just as cold as his glare, and considering this is a man that spent over seventy years in a frozen state, he's redefining the meaning of 'icy'; it's not any surprise that even some of _Fury's_ men have straightened at his tone, "is _**enough**_. You are grown men and need to act like it, not like a pair of squabbling children! I thought that we had worked past all this jumping down each others' throats at the slightest provocation, not looking for reasons to tear each other down! Director, Tony made a executive decision to avoid any more possible hostility in dealing with an unknown entity, and seeing your actions in regards to this girl, I'm willing to put it down in the books that I agree with him!"

Bruce finds himself wishing he had a camera, if not for the dumbstruck look on Fury's face, then for the slack jawed expression Tony's directing at Steve; even Sarah, who has just been given a very good reason to be intimidated by the blond, has her hands covering her mouth, a muffled giggle slipping through her fingers despite her efforts to keep it in. It is this sound that draws everyone's attention back to her and it's Bruce's turn to bite back a smile at the way that they visibly collect themselves.

"State your name and intention, miss, and be sharp about it. Let me also just tell you this; I really don't like people who decide to introduce themselves by beating the hell out of my Agents."

It's Director Fury's rather blatant attempt to gather back some semblance of order, to bring the situation back under his control, and it works about as well as the rest of his decisions up to this point; Sarah's stance grows defiant as her legs spread to brace her weight and her hands drop from her face to her hips, a smirk that Bruce knows very well directed up at Director Nick Fury as she flippantly states, "Oh? It sounds like that happens a lot, _Director_."

There is a choked off chuckle behind her and a reprimanding, "Sarah!" that has her ducking her head in apology, but Bruce is close enough to see that her smirk hasn't disappeared entirely and it's a battle to keep his _own_ grin off his face, especially when Sarah catches his gaze out of the corner of her eye and _winks_.

"She has a point."

The new voice has nearly all of them looking up in surprise, but Sarah's reaction is a lot more... well, _surprising_; she grabs the nearest object-which so happen to be what looks like a watered down Stark Tablet sitting on one of the tables-and throws it in the direction that the voice comes from, the tablet spinning much in the way that Captain America's shield had only moments before, causing the speaker to drop down to their level and for the tablet to be embedded in the helicarrier's ceiling.

Clint looks up at the tablet still sparking like a miniature firework and then over to the girl that threw it, a raised brow speaking volumes of how impressed he is by the throw and the fact that she managed to figure out where he had been from that single sentence. "Nice shot."

"Not really," She responds, competitiveness vibrating off her every pore as she once more gives someone a smirk that Bruce is _sure_ that he's seen before, one that spells trouble even as the girl opens her mouth to add, "I missed what I was aiming for, after all..."

There's another gurgling chuckle behind Sarah and this one sounds more like whoever made it isn't even trying to hide the fact that they're laughing anymore, which makes Bruce turn to see Steve with his head in his hands, Tony with the same cookie-eating grin the girl is sporting, and Fury looking like he'd rather gas the lot of them than deal with the insanity. Bruce is more than inclined to agree with the man when Tony claps his hands together and states, "It's official; I_ like _this girl. Come on, Director, you _have_ to let me keep her!"

"For the love of- Tony, _shut up_! You're just making things worse!" Steve sounds utterly exhausted instead of frustrated, fingers pinching his forehead and a frown marring his features, for some reason making Tony _and_ Sarah give him abashed looks. The former drops his gaze to his tablet, muttering something that's probably not a compliment under his breath and the latter straightens slightly, giving Director Fury a look that is only slightly more respectful than the last one as she almost visibly steels herself to do something that she apparently _does not_ want to do.

"My name is Sarah. I don't know my last name, how I got here, or where I came from; the only memories I have are of waking up on Tony Stark's Tower and a vague impression of a laboratory before that..." Sarah's brow furrows and Bruce is once more hit with the thought that he has seen an expression like that before as Sarah shakes her head and continues, "Although, that could just have been a dream or an impression due to where I woke up..."

She trails off again, an expression of frustration still covering her features, and there is a few moments of silence before someone speaks again... depending on your definition of '_someone_'...

"There are over two hundred Sarahs in the state of New York, and of those, only thirty-two match the age parameters of the Sarah in this room." J.A.R.V.I.S' voice causes nearly everyone to start and Fury to practically _growl_ at Tony when he realizes that the billionaire has hacked into the comm system so that they all can hear the A.I's analysis, the billionaire who smiles back in a way that is more a baring of his teeth than a grin.

The Other Guy rumbles at the rising tensions, but stays quiet due to several meetings worth of veiled and not-so-veiled insults, a slight pressure at the back of Bruce's skull as J.A.R.V.I.S hums his findings; "Those numbers are also cut by height and weight, leaving only three Sarahs that this female could possibly be... Unfortunately, the similarities end there; all three are at designated locations-two at home, one at work-and have responded to inquires. This female is a completely new entity and-"

"-happens to be standing right here; do you think you could stop talking about me like I'm deaf or something, if you don't mind?"

"Apologizes, Miss Sarah."

"Just Sarah will be fine."

"Apologizes then, Just Sarah."

"Oh, you're _adorable_..."

"When you're finished flirting with Stark's A.I," Fury's voice cuts into the banter like a knife, making the ease that was loosening Sarah's stance disappear and causing her to tense back up again, her eyes rolling as she raises a brow at the military man's comment. "I think we need to discuss why your memory is a blank slate and why you decided to land on _Stark's_ Tower, of all places... We have top-of-the-line neurologists that could help you find out where your memories have run off to-"

"I'm not going back to a lab," It's only now that Sarah's stance turns defensive, that her gaze goes from Clint to Fury, causing the men surrounding him to refocus their sights on her. "I don't care how state-of-the-art or newfangled your equipment is; I am not setting foot in another laboratory, research center, or _high school science class_. _**Ever**_, Whatever reason you come up with, whatever lie you're going to spin to get me back in those bastard's clutches, my answer is _**no**_."

There is a moment of complete silence after that announcement, where everyone stares at the girl standing in the midst of the helicarrier's bridge, who does not flinch under the scrutiny and rather just keeps her gaze on Fury; his gaze also never wavers and Bruce can practically _see_ the thoughts running through his mind, the various scenarios he's thinking of in every facial twitch, making Bruce wonder if he's going to be in the middle of another firefight after finally getting a few days' peace and quiet...

Finally, after an indeterminable amount of time, Fury gives an almost regal wave of his hand and his armored men lower their weapons before filing out of the bridge.

"Taking into account that you have somehow managed to get most of my Avengers on your side within a few hours of your appearance," Fury's tone gives no doubt that he finds that extremely suspicious, but he just shakes his head as he continues, "I'm going to sweep your rather abrupt welcome under the rug, but I want you to know one thing here, kid; if you so much as _sneeze_ the wrong way, being stuck in a lab is going to be the _least_ of your problems... Have I made myself clear?"

"Crystal, sir." The snark has vanished now that the men are gone, Sarah obviously realizing that she just dodged a bullet and things could have gone a lot worse, so she decides to play nice for now... As a matter of fact, her stance is even a slight mimic of Steve's when he's speaking to Fury; arms behind her back, loosely clasped, and legs braced in a parade rest. It's a little unnerving and Bruce is just about to comment on it when whatever it was that has kept Tony silent so far wears off.

"Does that mean we can take her home now?!"

This time it isn't just Fury who sighs in exasperation as Sarah pats herself down and asks of everyone and no one, "I didn't turn into a cat or a dog without noticing, did I?"


	4. Welcome to Earth

_**Welcome to Earth**_

It's funny how quickly that Steve Rogers-Man Out of Time-has accumulated to being seventy years in the future, what with the vast differences in culture just the tip of the iceberg of things that he's had to come to grips with, but there really is nothing that surprises him more than the fact that a female that had literally crash landed on top of a Tower only a few hours earlier had traveled the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D's helicarrier clad in only a hospital gown and now is following them back to the conference room without asking for any clothes or even something to cover up the gap in the back of the gown...

As a matter of fact, it's only Steve's rapidly heating crimson face-he _is_ walking right behind her-that alerts anyone to the fact that there is a scantily clad female in their midst... that, and the fact that Clint takes a moment to comment on whether or not Steve's 'enjoying the view'.

Sarah seems more embarrassed by the fact that _Steve_ was embarrassed than any inadvertent indecency on her part, leading to a few minutes of the pair of them apologizing to each other and Sarah trying to get the parts of the gown to close in the back as she points her nether regions at the nearest wall, only semi-successful in covering her back end up. It makes the rest of the group look between the two flushed and stammering individuals with various levels of amusement and for Tony to ask Sarah if she's managed to travel from the forties as well, or if she might possibly be related to Steve, with causes the pair of them to blush and stutter even _more_.

"As amusing as all of this is," Fury's voice once more cuts through the atmosphere and causes everyone to tense up as he glares at the lot of them, looking incredulous at the idea of people having fun in his helicarrier, "I think it might be a good idea for Sarah to get dressed before Rogers bursts a blood vessel... We need all the superheros we can get if there are going to be random people popping out of the woodwork, and I don't need any more of you being compromised than there already were."

His comment makes the redness dusting Steve's cheeks grow in both magnitude and color as well as causing Clint's shoulder to twitch slightly before both men school their faces(and bodies) into a neutral state, but the reactions have been spotted by the rest of the group and that earns Fury a few glares when he turns to continue his trek to the conference room, leaving a group of embarrassed and irritated Avengers behind him... Well, a group of superheros plus one random girl with what might be amnesia, or just a very clever ploy to throw the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D off guard so that she can kill and/or capture them to be tortured by unknown forces...

Steve mentally sighs at the suspicious cast of his thoughts, but after what Loki did and everything they've been through, nearly anything new or that has any suspicious behavior is considered a threat until otherwise proven by either him or the other members of his team.

The current threat, however, was looking less like a possible enemy and more like a girl who was acutely aware of the fact that she was in the midst of a group of men with what Tony had called 'half a wrapper' covering her while trying to walk in a way that wouldn't show anyone any of her... indecent parts. It took all of two minutes of her trying to walk sideways down the corridor before one of the Agents offered her his coat so that she could follow him and get 'something a little more decent to wear'.

Yet, before she can take it or make any other move toward the man, Bruce clears his throat in that 'I-would-like-your-attention-if-it's-no-trouble' way of his that has nearly everyone looking at him in surprise; despite the fact that he can turn into a _literal_ angry giant, there are times when the man is so quiet and unobtrusive-so unlike Tony that Steve wonders how the two of them even get along-that there are moments when Bruce startles them simply by announcing his presence.

"I may be alone in this thought," Bruce states in that quiet voice of his, hands carefully folded in front of him as he looks almost apologetically at Sarah from where she stands with her back to the wall, "but I think it might be a good idea to get some of the substance that came with Sarah to one of the labs to be identified. It might help us find out how she lost her memories, or at the very least, where it is that she came from and maybe a way to send her back..."

"Here I thought Stark was supposed to be the genius..." Clint quips as Tony immediately started ordering J.A.R.V.I.S to have someone 'scrape some of the goo' off of the Iron Man landing pad, only to be told that the remains had already evaporated and the only remnants were the splotches that covered Just Sarah's form, making the scion curse as Sarah giggles at the nickname the A.I has apparently decided to insist on calling her; it would be odd, that the A.I would call her that instead of her given name, if Steve hadn't known that J.A.R.V.I.S had also called Clint 'Mr. Badass' for _months_ until Tony had reprogrammed it to call the archer 'Birdbrain' instead.

It had been hard to take the A.I seriously whenever J.A.R.V.I.S had informed them of Clint's situation while they were on missions and Tony had-eventually-changed it back, but not before the man had to suffer through what was no doubt the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D being informed that 'Birdbrain was injured on field and in need of medical assistance', leading Director Fury to yell at Tony for a solid ten minutes about 'acting like a prepubescent teenager' and 'screwing with military operations' by having his 'mechanical monkey play tricks'.

Clint, on the other hand, had been a pretty decent sport about the whole thing and even tried to get J.A.R.V.I.S to call Natasha 'Lady In Red' until Thor pointed out that she had never worn red before, making Clint shake his head and throw up his hands in defeat.

"I have an idea."

Steve snaps himself out of his memories just in time to see Clint pull a knife out of his boot and start toward Sarah, who instead of looking terrified, simply tilts her neck towards him; the act is very much like the one she made when she first showed up on the Tower, back when Clint had been just as suspicious of her as he is now, and Steve can tell that the assassin is aware of the significance in the way his eyes narrow as the grip on the knife tightens ever so slightly.

"Is this going to be a habit? You, sticking pointy things at me?" Sarah's quip does nothing to stifle the unease in Steve, the same unease that filled him when they were in a similar position on the Tower's rooftop, but it _does_ make Clint let out a snort before he takes Sarah by the chin and scrapes a line of the unknown crystallized substance off of her cheek, dropping it into a small Ziploc baggie that an Agent that seemed to have popped out of the metalwork holds out for him.

Clint's hand still grips Sarah for a few minutes, once more staring at her with an intensity that many would find intimidating, but the girl simply stares back in an almost perfect mimic of the archer's glare; the posing would look almost romantic if you just happened upon the two and you didn't notice the knife against Sarah's cheek, but it was very clear that neither one really trusted the other and that getting in the way of the psychic argument going on was a good way to get you killed or in an awful lot of pain...

"Well, now that we have that taken care of," Once more, it is Bruce's voice that cuts across the tension that has started to build up, making Clint release his grip from Sarah and for her to _finally_ be able to accept the coat that the Agent had offered her, tying the arms around her waist as a makeshift skirt, "I think Sarah might like to get something decent to wear and we'd all better get back to Fury before _he's_ the one that bursts a blood vessel."

There are various noises of amusement at that statement as Sarah nods at the Agent who gave her the coat to proceed her down the corridor, Tony-who has been surprisingly silent during this entire exchange-hollering after her that her look is very 'hospital chic' before she disappears around the corner, not even bothering to grace him with a reply; it does, however, make Steve give him a Look that the smaller male returns with a shrug of his shoulders and his own glance that says he isn't sorry, nobody will convince him to be so and if Steve doesn't like it, that's _his_ problem.

It's an expression that Steve has come to know _very_ well in the past couple of months that he's been living at Avengers Tower, and one that he's sure that he'll be seeing even _more_ of in the months to come...

-0-0-0-

They've made it back to the conference room by this point, Fury just pulling up a video feed as they enter, showing the laboratory that Sarah was in and her response from when she woke up to when she barreled into the command center of the helicarrier; there are winces all around at the very audible crack from the blow the first scientist receives upon her awakening, no doubt spurred by the fact that the man has a needle in his hand when he approaches her, something that causes Bruce's hands to clench into fists on the conference table.

"Bruce?" Clint's voice is surprisingly tentative and nearly everyone is looking at the physicist in various levels of unease, so they all see the flash of emerald that overtakes his eyes before they fade back to their original ocher hue, a clear signal of how close the Other Guy is to breaking free; there is a tense silence in the room, the only sound being Bruce's labored breathing and an occasional body shifting, before Clint speaks again.

"You still with us over there?"

A few more minutes past, Bruce's breathing slowly evening out, and then a gruff, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

_In. Out. In. Out._

"Yes, Clint."

The silence that followed was a heavier one than it was just a few minutes ago as they watched Sarah fight her way through a horde of Agents, a plow cutting past the wheat standing in its way, before she managed to get out into the hall and the feed suddenly was cut out. It didn't even reappear when Tony ordered J.A.R.V.I.S to run through the data with a fine tooth comb, cursing when the A.I informed him that the same unknown mechanical reading that was within Sarah's DNA code had also managed to leave her body long enough to short circuit the cameras.

"So, to recap; this girl lands on Stark's Tower, claims to have no memory prior to being there and suffers some sort of fit when trying to remember anything," Fury's voice is surprisingly even more annoyed and irritated than when he's dealing with Tony after a mission and _that_ is saying something. "She then beats the holy hell out of one of S.H.I.E.L.D's researchers, takes down over five teams of my top Agents, is unaccountable for over an hour of time, before she just strolls into the control room of our helicarrier acting like the past... three hours was one big misunderstanding. Tell me people; why is this girl not in custody where she belongs?"

"Well, I may be stretching a bit here, but perhaps it's because her initial reaction was one of a frightened individual who had just woken up in an unknown place, completely unaware if the people holding her were going to turn her into a cadaver to poke at or treat whatever it was that turned her mind into an Etch-A-Sketch somebody had decided to smash with a hammer." The sarcasm in Tony's voice is so thick that you could practically use as a spread and he cuts to the point with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, but it also breaks down the time that they have to dance around the issue in an attempt to keep Fury from just putting a bullet in a couple of people's brains, so Steve bites down on the reprimand that he wants to give and just waits for the brunet to finish before he can add his own thoughts to what should be done with Sarah.

"Maybe if we had her in a room with, I don't know, an _actual bed_ and not that creepy Stepford household shit that you pulled with Cap, as well as someone that _didn't_ have a needle in their hand, Sarah would have reacted a lot more cooperatively; she might have even waited to find out who we are and what we do _before_ bowling down your people like she was playing tenpins." This earns a muffled snort from Bruce, Clint rolls his eyes at the room at large, and Steve just shakes his head as Tony winds up his rant by throwing his hands up in the air, "I mean, _come __**on**_! It's like Cap said earlier; are you _really_ surprised that she reacted the way she did after she woke up _locked in a lab_?"

The fact that Tony has mentioned something he said previously, without any derision or ridicule, throws Steve for a few second and he has to look around the table to make sure that he actually heard what he thought as Fury and Tony get into another argument; Bruce's brows had taken a little trip up his forehead and he was now massaging his temples as the disputation went from talking to screaming while Clint simply looked around the room like he wanted nothing better than to make an escape through one of the ventilation ducts.

As the yelling behind them grew even more heated, Steve was beginning to want to join him, perhaps even being the one to open up their way to freedom... Who had decided that having Fury and Tony in the same room was a good idea...?

"_**Gentlemen**_!" Not really the first thing that Steve wanted to call the pair of them, but his Momma had raised him to be polite even when no one else was, so he bit back the next three things he wanted to say and continued with something a bit more placating. "Regardless of where she came from, Tony is correct in saying that her actions were out of fear in what she believed to be a hostile environment. I'm sure that if Thor was here, he would tell you that his first impression of Earth wasn't all that great either and that we should give her a chance."

It was times like this that Steve wished the Asgardian _was_ there; the man had a way of deflecting Tony's snark away from Fury and saying outrageous things that make the Director lose whatever anger he had for Tony as he tried to figure out what exactly it was that the Thunder God said, bringing everyone's temper back down to a place where they could discuss things rationally. They _had_ tried to get a hold of him on their way to the helicarrier, but the 'landlines' or whatever they were had given J.A.R.V.I.S some problems and now they had to wait a couple of days until Thor had planned to return...

A couple of days that Steve just _knew_ were going to test his patience, if today was anything to go by.

"**Fine**, Stark! If you're that damned willing to risk your neck and the neck of everyone else on this team, the girl can fucking stay at your damn Tower!" Pushing past the rest of the people assembled, Fury threw one last shot over his shoulder before slamming the door behind him. "Just don't come crying to me if she decides to murder all of you in your sleep!"

"Half of the people in that Tower don't sleep anyway, so I don't think that will be a problem!" As usual, Tony _had_ to have the last word and Steve finally released the breath he was holding as Tony turned to the rest of them with a huge smile on his face, a little kid who had got his way over the adults over the room. "J.A.R.V.I.S, is Sarah finished dressing yet? Man, I'd give a portion of my company to find out why it takes women so damn long-"

"Just Sarah has been dressed and presentable for the last fifteen minutes of your discussion with the Director, sir."

Tony blinks as Steve suppresses a snort at the thought that the shouting match between Tony and Fury could be called a 'discussion', despite the fact that it had been one of their more low-key disagreements. Tony apparently gets over the fact that Sarah was breaking 'woman rules', as well as J.A.R.V.I.S interrupting him, and demanded, "Well, then why isn't she here, then? Did Fury have one of his monkey suits put her under house arrest or something? Because I taught you how to call off his hounds like, three upgrades ago."

There is a slight hesitance and if Steve didn't know any better, he would say that the A.I sounded... concerned. "There seems to be something that is distressing Just Sarah, sir. She has retired to the bed that is situated in the room and has not moved since. She did, however, retreat to the bathroom beforehand to stare at the mirror for five point three minutes-also without any movement for the entire duration-uttering one phrase before leaving and situating herself on the bed."

"Which was?"

It's not the A.I's voice that answers, but Sarah's; it's pitched low, confusion and fear evident in the few words that are said. It makes Bruce's hands tighten into fists again, Clint lean forward to stare at the table like he would like nothing less than to burn a hole through it, and for Steve to glance at Tony, only for him to be looking back with almost the exact same expression on his face. The vote is silent and unanimous, the gathering moving as one to a small room with a single occupant.

_**I don't know you... I don't know my own face.**_


End file.
